The Island of the Knights

Our first stop in Greece was the island of Rhodes. Famous in ancient times for the Colossus, Rhodes has been a crossroads and battleground since the 16th century BC for the Minoans, Greeks, Persians, Romans, Western Europeans and Turks. In 1306 the Knights of Saint John arrived after the fall of Jerusalem. Yes, the same Order of Knights Hospitaller seen in Malta. They built their ideal of a medieval walled city to include a moat and castle that can been seen today. Additional changes were made by the Ottoman Empire who arrived in the 14th century and stayed for the next four hundred years.

Capture the island, build your own house of worship.

We explored on foot and found our way into the center of town. If we had been in need of a trinket, a tee shirt, or maybe a nice full suit of armor, we would have been in the right place. Every part of the city has ruins built on ruins of a previous era. The difference now is that most of the historic  structures were being used for everything from restaurants to gift shops and even your local Ben and Jerrys'.

Chunky Monkey Anyone?

A meal with a view

Try fitting that in you carry on bag

Sponge fishermen have no time for play

Wandering around the older parts of town brought us to cobblestone streets with beautiful heavy wooden and iron doors. Some were open to show courtyard gardens and fountains. Any minute, we expected a mounted knight to come galloping down the lane on his way to the fight.

Best door in Rhodes

With a little help from tripadvisor and google maps, we located a terrific restaurant just off the beaten path. It really was up two alleys, down a dark street, under a bridge and through a square before we came to Nireas. The owner, Theo, was a cheerful, out-going gentleman who clearly loved his place and his life. He greeted us like family. We dined well on fish roe, spicy cheese, octopus salad, grilled fish and of course two carafes of the house wine. 

Nireas, Sofokleous 22, Old Town Rhodes

After lunch we went through the main city gate and walked the waterfront back to the ship. Next up on our Greek Islands tour is Mykonos.

Rhodes is at 36.41N, 28.09E. The weather was sunny and 81 degrees.

Cheers,
P&J